Opportunistic Infections in Cancer Patients

Many organisms that do not normally cause disease in immunocompetent persons can become life-threatening in those with compromised immune systems. Cancer patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy and post transplant recipients are especially at risk for contracting one of these infections. Treatment and prevention, as well as molecular diagnostics, pathogenesis studies, and immunology are a few approaches implemented by VIDD faculty.

Research interests include the study and manipulations of CD8 T cells and NK cells, the mechanism for T cells becoming memory T cells and the therapeutic potential of NK cells to protect from opportunistic infections following transplantation